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Science 10 October 2008:
Vol. 322. no. 5899, p. 165
DOI: 10.1126/science.1165316
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Editorial

The Misused Impact Factor

Kai Simons

Research papers from all over the world are published in thousands of Science journals every year. The quality of these papers clearly has to be evaluated, not only to determine their accuracy and contribution to fields of research, but also to help make informed decisions about rewarding scientists with funding and appointments to research positions. One measure often used to determine the quality of a paper is the so-called "impact factor" of the journal in which it was published. This citation-based metric is meant to rank scientific journals, but there have been numerous criticisms over the years of its use as a measure of the quality of individual research papers. Still, this misuse persists. Why?

Kai Simons is president of the European Life Scientist Organization and is at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Culture Psychology 15, 5-39
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Impact Factor Wars: Episode V--The Empire Strikes Back.
R. A. Brumback (2009)
J Child Neurol 24, 260-262
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)